


Alone I Break

by RuvikVictoriano



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 20:56:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3502481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuvikVictoriano/pseuds/RuvikVictoriano
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short drabble of Ruben during his imprisonment in the basement of his family home. Shortly after the fire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alone I Break

The basement was pitch black, an endless pit of shadow that swallowed any source of light. Ruben was lying on his back and staring off into the nothingness. The pain kept him awake. Another note to mention to the doctor when he stopped by in the morning. _The medication didn’t help, Dr. Jimenez. I was awake all night. I still hurt._

At least the seizure medication was in effect. He knew this only because an episode hadn’t happened tonight. Every time he had to move, he grit his teeth to await the inevitable thrashing that was out of his control. Thankfully, not tonight. At least he didn’t have to worry about that.

Wincing, the small boy lifted himself up on his elbows, taking a deep breath before he twisted sideways and reached towards the nightstand. He heard pill bottles topple over as he blindly felt out for a glass of water, eventually making contact with the cold smooth surface. Bringing it towards himself, he drank down a few sips, before reaching to set the cup back.

Every task was more trouble than it was worth. Sitting up, moving around… it only aggravated his injuries.

Pain was constant.

He would try to sleep again, he decided. Ruben rested back against fluffy pillows, easing himself into a nearly comfortable position, and again he closed his eyes.

The silence here was eerie. Little noises in the walls didn’t frighten him, but it made him more aware of how quiet everything was. He was trapped in a capsule, a vast empty space, and all he had was the silence.

Something shifted in the darkness, and Ruben sat up, wincing again because he’d moved too quickly.

“Hello?” he called out. He couldn’t mistake that noise. It was someone walking. “Jimenez?”

The noise died down, and then started again. Quiet shuffling, feet across the stone floor. Ruben gripped the blanket and squinted.

“Father?”

No, this wasn’t right. He would have heard the entrance to the basement open and close. Jimenez wouldn’t be here this late, and he doubted his Father cared enough to risk visiting. No, nobody had entered the basement. But there was someone else in the room.

He continued to listen, straining to hear something more. A clue to give the intruder away. But it had fallen into silence again, and he could hear nothing.

Ruben was slow to drift back onto the bed again. Maybe he was hallucinating. Medication often had that side effect. There was a rational answer to everything.

In the thick silence, Ruben waited for sleep to claim him again. But not even ten minutes later, he heard that quiet shuffling again, and he promptly sat up and glared into the darkness.

“Who’s there?” he called out.

The noise that responded made his chest become tight. He heard a laugh, a melodic hum that couldn’t be mistaken. Ruben’s grip on the blanket grew tight, and he leaned forward as he listened. No. _No no no_ …

“Laura?”

He heard her singsong voice sailing like a leaf on the breeze through the basement, echoing through his surroundings towards him. The heaviness on his chest grew tenfold. He felt like he was suffocating as he sat there, listening for his sister.

“Laura?” he called out again. “Where are you?”

It grew quiet. Ruben held his breath and waited for something. _Anything_. He wanted proof she was alive. That father had spouted nothing but lies to hurt him, and that Laura had come home to rescue him from his imprisonment.

But he knew the truth. And no amount to hoping would make this real.

One bandaged hand covered his mouth when he started to cry, and the pain only worsened when he heard her _call out_ to him. Through blurred vision, in this unparalleled darkness, he saw her standing there. He wished he could take comfort in this mirage, this phantom. But all it brought him was more agony.

_Why hadn’t he died with her?_

Small, weak sobs sounded from the boy, hunched over on his bed and suffering alone in the empty room. The doctor wasn’t here. His Father wasn’t here. His Mother wasn’t here.

His sister was dead.

Speaking to the darkness only made things worse. But he could pretend, he could fool himself to believe that somehow…. She could hear him.

“ _I miss you_ …”

Sleep did not come easily to him that night.


End file.
